DDCJE Smith Family

Saturday, September 13, 2008

That's one big forklift!

Janessa & Kaden giving you an idea of the scale of this machine.

Ready to move some equipment

Colin was absolutely certain that he was able and qualified to drive this thing.

Kaden & Grandpa Scott keeping a close eye on Colin.

Storage Containers Arrive

Part of the grand plan involved finding a solution for storing a massive amount of stuff. Both from our house and the parents.

Solution storage containers.

Dad and I poured 8 yards of concrete while Dustin was at grand jury duty.

Do you sense any animosity there?!?!?

These are what the containers will sit on. Not too bad for a couple of amateurs.

The new rule at our house is to schedule all projects for Thursday & Friday. That way Mom is not around to witness the stress and craziness!

Delivery of the containers.

The pictures do not do these units justice.

They measure 20 feet long, 8 feet wide, and 8 1/2 feet tall.

The forklift was one of the largest available but still didn't have forks wide enough apart to unload the containers properly so the guys had to be a little creative.

After hours of tedious work the units where placed on their slabs. We were a bunch of dirty sweaty stressed humans. I think I survived a couple of mild heart attacks and lost a good number of years off of my life during the process. Thank heavens that doesn't have to be done again any time soon!

Big Changes......

Well, I'm not sure where to begin.... as you may have noticed I haven't been blogging for the last two months. I have a fantastic excuse that goes something like this;
*June 30th: Dustin comes home early from work with some bad news- he's been laid off.
*July 6th: We decide to take drastic measures which include selling our house, moving in with my parents, and sending Dustin back to school to become a radiologist.
Talk about big changes!

So we have spent the last two months getting our house ready to sell, the parents house ready to move everyone in, and all the miscellaneous tasks that go along with it.

Long story short- we have sold the house in record time, setup our new living quarters, and stored the huge amount of items that you accumulate after owning a house for almost ten years.

It has been a stressful and busy time of our lives but the future looks bright. We are together in a safe loving home. Dustin starts school the end of September. All in all we are very blessed.

Eliana 8 months old

Our baby is growing like a weed!

Her first biter biscuit. Followed by a nice warm bath to remove all that mess!

Opossum baby

A ten gallon hat for a little girl

Eliana goes to the beach for the first time

It wasn't an ideal day to take her for her first beach trip but we do live in Oregon!

We found a spot on the other side of a little bluff that helped to protect her from the raging wind.

A couple of blankets and Mom as an additional wind block and it worked out alright.

Can I have a turn with the camera?

Smiley binky face

Governor Patterson Wayside

We decided to run away from the 90+ degree weather at home and head to the beach. We were greeted with gale force winds, black fog, and 60 degree weather. Oh well, you can't win them all!

Luckily I had packed jackets and long pants for the kids.

Too bad I forgot to do the same for the adults....

Janessa dove right in- literally :)

Bringing water back for the sandcastles.

The good thing about a windy day- kite flying.

Grandma Trisha bought the kids new owl kites and they have been begging to try them out. Today turned out to be the perfect time. Colin was so proud of his abilities and talked about flying all by himself for the rest of the trip.

A bath tub big enough to swim in

The house in Sunriver has a very unusual layout that included huge bathrooms with spa tubs.

So we let the kids go swimming in it!

High Desert Museum

We took a family trip to Sunriver this July thanks to my sister Kelley who won a gift certificate to the resort and rented a large enough house for everybody to stay in.

Our first afternoon was a trip to the High Desert Museum.

Checking out a tepee.

Looking at critters with Uncle Tim

Indian artifacts

Colin and Janessa in the children's area.
They liked exploring in the otter den and finding the treasures that the otter had stashed.

Janessa looking at lizards with Auntie Kelley and her friend Wendy.

Touching a "real" statue of a rattlesnake. It even had a sensor and would make a rattle sound when they stuck their hands on it.

Sissy Love

A perfect example of "a picture speaks a thousand words"

Our friend Moki

The last time we dog sit for Moki was at Easter. I took some pictures of him wearing bunny ears and posted a note about how big he is, but the picture didn't do him justice. So this is another attempt at showing how truly large he really is.